When Rebecca Hu (‘24) was looking for volunteer work to do during her freshman year, she came across Her Drive, an organization whose goal is to provide feminine products and hygienic supplies to those in need, while scrolling through her For You Page on TikTok.
When Hu looked more into the organization’s mission, she realized that she wanted to be a part of Her Drive in some way. She decided to apply to host a drive in the Cherry Hill area. Since hosting her first drive in June of her freshman year, she has been able to collect more than 10,000 feminine and hygiene products and donate them to charities.
“I thought it was pretty important because if you think about it, menstrual products are necessary for most women, and they are just as important as other hygiene items because women need them pretty often,” Hu explains.
Hu thought that hosting a drive during the pandemic would yield more donations, since many people were at home and less busy than usual. Hu partnered up with the organization alongside her sister Katherine Hu, a senior at Carnegie Mellon University. The process of applying to host a drive included a simple application through a Google Form and a two minute interview.
“Once [HER Drive] approved of our drive, we began reaching out to local community centers who were willing to host a donation box,” said Hu.
Hu utilized platforms such as her own Instagram to promote the local drives that were taking place. Facebook was another channel of promotion, as Hu joined Facebook groups in the general Cherry Hill area. Her sister also created a website on Carrd as a way for people in the community to know how to donate and what things that the drive spots collect. Hu set up drop-off spots at locations such as the Cherry Hill Public Library, the Mayor’s Office, and the Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill.
Drop-off spots collect donations for three or four weeks before the sisters bring the donations back home to sort. A majority of the donations received came from the Cherry Hill Library since they would promote the drive on their events calendar and newsletter. The sisters then counted the products and filled out a donation inventory spreadsheet. The final numbers are given to the charities to ensure that they are able to accept all the donations.
“If the charity cannot take all the donations, we’ll find a different charity or split the donations half and half,” said Hu.
For the past two years, Her Drive in Cherry Hill has collected donations that go to CommUNITY SJP and I Support the Girls. CommUNITY SJP is a nonprofit organization whose efforts are rooted in volunteer work in the South Jersey and Philadelphia area. I Support the Girls is a global nonprofit who aims to dignify women and girls by providing them the necessary menstrual and hygienic care they need. Since both charities collect period products, Hu will split those products half and half to give to each charity. The clothing donations and other miscellaneous products collected go to Vietnam Veterans of America.
“On the local level, our goal would be to beat our collection numbers from this year and just to expand it more and see what we can do in our area,” said Hu.
Hu collected a little over 5,000 items her freshman year and a little more than 4,000 items her sophomore year. For Hu’s junior year, she is hoping to beat her past collection numbers and to be able to help more women with limited access to menstrual and hygienic products. Hu hopes to host a drive in February and plans to continue hosting drives and spreading awareness on period and hygienic poverty throughout high school and into college.